Dota 2's The International 4 Top 8 Starts Today

It's finally here. After a weeks of qualifiers and round robins, the top 8 teams for Dota 2's The International 4 have been selected and the finals have officially begun. Today are the upper bracket matches, featuring best of 3s between Newbee and Vici, as well as DK and EG. The losers from those matches will drop into the lower bracket where they will get their last chance to advance in the tournament. These matches will be going all weekend, ending on Monday with the best of 5 Grand Finals Match, with first place taking home $4,991,052 (as of writing). The tournament is being held at the Key Arena in Seattle, and livestreamed on both Twitch and through the Dota client if you buy a ticket. It was also recently announced that ESPN 2/3 would be showing certain games this weekend. Check out the current standings over at Liquipedia.

It is amazing to me how far this game has come in only a years time. One of the biggest surprises is seeing two North American teams in the top 8 this year, with Evil Geniuses currently sitting in second place overall. While I'm still rooting for my favorite team Natus Vincere, I would love to see an NA team take first place and show the world that we can do it too!